Zakwe’s paper drew from her PhD study. She examined employee retention strategies as an approach to strengthen the quality of provisions in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Durban Metropolitan Area.

The paper concluded that ‘employee retention is an all-encompassing component of an organisation’s human resource strategies, which commence with the recruitment of the right people with the expertise and experience required by the organisation and continue with practices that promote on-going employee engagement and commitment to the organisation.

Zakwe highlighted the need for on-going engagement with all employees in HEIs on annual performance reviews (individual and institutional), grade and salary progressions, competitive benefits, and sound leadership, management and governance as well as job security in order to retain talented, motivated and highly skilled employees.

Zakwe also chaired the main Session on Quality Assurance and Accountability and was awarded a Certificate for International Research Senior Reviewer.

She expressed her profound gratitude for financial assistance and support from Deputy Vice-Chancellor in the College of Humanities Professor Nhlanhla Mkhize, and her mentor, Dean and Head of the School of Built Environment and Development Studies Professor Ernest Khalema.